His most recent appearance on the matchcourt in doubles did not go to plan either, with Kyrgios losing in under an hour with Gael Monfils<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although Kyrgios\u2019<\/a> recent experience on the court has not gone so well, he does now appear to have changed his mind about a player he once criticised.<\/p>\n As part of the Washington Open\u2019s<\/a> media day, players including Kyrgios, Emma Raducanu<\/a> and Jessica Pegula<\/a> were asked who they think is the smartest on tour.<\/p>\n Both Ben Shelton<\/a> and Emma Navarro<\/a> agreed that Pegula was their smartest player on tour, while she actually picked another American in Australian Open champion Madison Keys<\/a>.<\/p>\n World number one and Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner<\/a> was selected by Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> and Daniil Medvedev<\/a>.<\/p>\n Medvedev, himself, was selected by compatriot Andrey Rublev<\/a>, while Holger Rune<\/a> picked 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic<\/a>, and Elena Rybakina<\/a> chose Barbora Krejcikova<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hailey Baptiste played doubles with Venus Williams<\/a> at the Washington Open this year, but revealed that she thought Serena Williams<\/a> was the smartest player.<\/p>\n Raducanu also chose a retired player and picked one of the pioneers of the WTA Tour<\/a> in Billie Jean King<\/a>.<\/p>\n When it came to Kyrgios\u2019 selection, he chose Casper Ruud<\/a> and suggested that he thought the Norwegian appears to have his life together.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna go Casper Ruud,\u201d said Kyrgios. \u201cI feel like he\u2019s very smart he\u2019s got his stuff sorted.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kyrgios and Ruud appear to be on good terms now<\/a>, that has not always been the case.<\/p>\n Why did Nick Kyrgios call Casper Ruud boring?<\/p>\n At the Italian Open in 2019, Kyrgios was defaulted in a match against Ruud for throwing a chair onto the court.<\/p>\n This ignited a feud between the pair, with Ruud calling Kyrgios an \u2018idiot\u2019 in an interview with Tennisportalen<\/a> after he had been criticised for celebrating the default win.<\/p>\n Kyrgios did not take too kindly to these comments and called Ruud boring in a rant on X (formerly known as Twitter).<\/p>\n He wrote at the time, \u201cHey @CasperRuud98 next time you have something to say, I would appreciate you say it to my face, I\u2019m sure you wouldn\u2019t run your mouth so much after that. Until then I will continue to rather watch paint dry then watch you play tennis, boring **.<\/p>\n \u201cBut again, I also understand why you have to keep my name in your mouth, because people don\u2019t even realise that you play tennis (laughing face emoji) Goodluck in Milan champ x.\u201d<\/p>\n But again, I also understand why you have to keep my name in your mouth, because people dont even realise that you play tennis \ud83d\ude02 goodluck in Milan champ x<\/p>\n \u2014 Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) October 24, 2019<\/a> <\/p>\n View Tweet<\/p>\n Kyrgios continued his criticism of three-time Grand Slam finalist Ruud for a few more years after this, but it appears that all is now forgotten.<\/p>\n At an exhibition event in December last year, Kyrgios and Ruud actually played doubles together<\/a> and were joking about any previous fallout.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n ![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2206302659-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Frey\/TPN\/Getty ImagesNick Kyrgios says he thinks Casper Ruud is the smartest tennis player<\/p>\n